Question

How Do I Automate DNS Record Creation for My DigitalOcean Droplets Using Terraform?

Posted on August 29, 2024
Terraform DNS Droplets
Asked by 828c1c19bec3419eb032d05c128960

I’m working with Terraform to deploy my infrastructure on DigitalOcean, and I want to automate the creation of DNS records for each Droplet I set up.

Is there a way to have Terraform automatically add an A record for each Droplet’s IP address in my DigitalOcean domain zone? Ideally, I’d like the DNS records to be created or updated whenever I apply changes.

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Bobby Iliev

Site Moderator

• November 7, 2024

Accepted Answer

Hey there! 👋

Setting up DNS records with Terraform on DigitalOcean is super straightforward and can save you a lot of time.

If you just want a basic setup, you can manage your domain and add an A record to point to your Droplet’s IP without needing any extra configurations.

Here’s an example:

# Create the domain in DigitalOcean
resource "digitalocean_domain" "example" {
  name = "example.com"  # Replace with your domain name
}

# Add an A record for www.example.com
resource "digitalocean_record" "www" {
  domain = digitalocean_domain.example.id
  type   = "A"
  name   = "www"                            # This makes www.example.com
  value  = "192.168.0.11"                   # Replace with your Droplet's IP
}

This will create a domain (example.com) and set up an A record for www.example.com to point to your Droplet’s IP address. Once it’s applied, your DNS will be good to go!

If you want the A record to automatically use your Droplet’s IP address, you can reference the Droplet’s IP in the value field.

Just replace the IP with your Droplet’s ipv4_address like this:

resource "digitalocean_droplet" "my_droplet" {
  name   = "example-droplet"
  region = "nyc3"
  size   = "s-1vcpu-1gb"
  image  = "ubuntu-22-04-x64"
}

resource "digitalocean_record" "www" {
  domain = digitalocean_domain.example.id
  type   = "A"
  name   = "www"
  value  = digitalocean_droplet.my_droplet.ipv4_address  # Auto-updates with Droplet IP
}